Painting and Photography

“We are not interested in the unusual, but in the usual seen unusually.”
-  Beaumont Newhall
I have noticed a difference over time between many paintings and photography. Many successful paintings have been created of subjects that are pretty boring. They are scenes that a good photographer would never even bother with. The composition can be mundane, [...]

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The Illusionists

“It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved.”
- W. Somerset Maugham
I couldn’t resist this quote when I saw it as it is a perfect continuation of the discussion in my last post that started with the [...]

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If Words Could Only Express….

“I believe painting or visual art is suffocated by verbal description.”
- J.R. Baldini
First, my apologies to anyone who has wondered where I’ve been for the last 2 weeks – I’ve seriously neglected my blog (and those of others!) as a result of the large Open Studio art event Susan and i held here the last [...]

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Hope

“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.”
- Willa Cather
I love trees.
Regardless of the changes they are put through by the seasons, they are patient and stand firm. Perhaps resigned, but also accepting.  A worthy role model these days.
I’ve always seen this image as [...]

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Knowing, Thinking and Looking

“Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.”
- Goethe
An interesting hierarchy.
I agree with the first part – knowing means there are fewer possibilities, and possibility is what keeps our interest. Some people may believe knowing is supreme, but as an artist, I think it leads to stagnation.
The second part is less obvious [...]

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Photography and Painting

“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.
- David Bailey
This is an uncommon viewpoint and, i think, one that [...]

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I think, therefore…

“You can’t look at abstract art without thinking.”
- Patricia Cole-Ferullo
Yeah, much of the time you are thinking “What the heck?”…
But seriously, I think this is an interesting and perhaps controversial statement. When looking at something abstract, we start trying to find something familiar or recognizable. We start trying to figure it out, to find some [...]

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